


steal my heart and break my pride

by ScreechTheMighty



Series: One is Quick, the Other's Tall [2]
Category: Titanfall (Video Games)
Genre: Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, Evil Space Amazon Is Evil, Gen, Origin Story, Police Brutality, Strong Language, Violence, alcoholic space dad makes a cameo, background family drama, corporate dystopias, latino!Cooper, lots of headcanons, no beta reader we die like men, tags to be updated as fic progresses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-27 13:22:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 17,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21392860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreechTheMighty/pseuds/ScreechTheMighty
Summary: I went out back and I got my gun / I said, "You haven't met me / I am the only son..."You can only kick a man so many times before he fights back--Jack Cooper's origin story.
Series: One is Quick, the Other's Tall [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1107093
Comments: 11
Kudos: 40





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been working on this fic for over a year and finally decided to post it in chapters instead of all in one long fic because this fandom needs more content and I need validation. Also because it may give me incentive to finish it. [Recommended listening for this fic.](https://8tracks.com/screechthemighty/pilot-jack-cooper)

He was ten when he first learned what the IMC was willing to do.

They had been living peacefully on the other side of Persephone. Mom and Dad had been working on some kind of hydroponics project. The rest of the family was doing regular farming inland near the house. It was nice. The ocean was within walking distance, he had friends, and his room was perfectly situated to watch the sunset. Cooper was sure things weren’t always great—in hindsight, he could think of a few times when the cracks in his parents’ relationship started showing—but it was peaceful. Idyllic, almost. He liked it there.

They got the news they were being moved. It happened seemingly out of nowhere, with little warning aside from a six month deadline. Dad started looking for a new place right away. He had a few farm and jobs lined up within two months.

To this day, Cooper wondered what he knew that everyone else didn't, because the IMC came for them in three months, not six.

They sent men with guns.

Cooper didn’t know why at the time; in hindsight, it was probably because of other insurgencies, other uprisings on other planets. The Titan Wars had been going on for four years at that point, and wouldn’t end for another three. The IMC probably didn’t want to risk that this relocation would turn into a riot, or maybe even a full-on war zone. So they sent men with guns. And two Titans.

He remembered _that_ clearly, because it was the first time he’d ever seen them up close. It was almost enough to distract him from the fact that they’d taken Dad away. All men over sixteen, actually, had been taken aside to “talk” about what was going on; women and children were kept somewhere else. Whatever they were talking about, it took a long time—long enough that people started getting agitated. Including his aunt. _Especially _his aunt.

Cooper remembered looking out the window at the two Titans—a broader one, Orgre-class, and a slimmer model that looked like a Stryder but with some serious upgrades. He could hear Tia Ofelia yelling in the background, demanding answers, to know where her husband was, why men with _guns_ had taken away. One of the Titan pilots, a fair-skinned man with brown hair who seemed to be in charge, was trying to placate her, using words like _routine_ and _precautionary measures_. It all sounded like something he couldn’t understand, so Cooper shut it out and kept watching the Titans.

Then he heard the _smack_ of a hand meeting someone’s face.

A lot of things happened very, very quickly. Some of the grunts in the room stepped forward, starting to draw their guns. Mom ran away from Cooper’s side to stand in front of her sister, simultaneously trying to hold Ofelia back and placate the men in front of her. “Please, I’m sorry, she’s under a lot of stress, we’re not a threat, we’re not armed…”

And suddenly _Cooper’s_ feet were carrying him across the room, because some deep gut instinct told him something was wrong, and because Dad had told him to look after Mom until he got back, and because there was no way that any of them would shoot a kid, right? So if he stood in the way, no one would get shot, and everyone would be fine.

“…I swear, it’s…_Jack_!” Mom grabbed his shoulder and tried to drag him back, but he stood his ground. “Jack, sit back down, right now.”

He didn’t. He didn’t say anything, either, because any words he might have stayed stuck in his chest. He was scared, terrified, even, because there were men with guns and those guns were aimed at his mother. But he stood his ground.

A new voice cut in: “All right, come on, that’s enough.” This voice was rougher than the pilot’s; the second pilot took off his helmet, revealing a man with an exhausted air about him and lighter brown hair. “Can we all just calm down for five seconds? Ma’am, I’m sorry. They don’t tell us any more than they tell you. I wish I could give you more answers, but…” He scoffed noisily. “That’s bureaucracy for you, right?” The second pilot looked down at Cooper for a second. There was sympathy in his eyes, perhaps, and maybe a bit of admiration. “Just sit down. I’ll go see if I can find something out.”

Cooper didn’t sit until his mom and Tia Ofelia did. Immediately, he went back to watching the Titans. He didn’t want to think about what had just happened. It was too much; too scary to think about.

They were finally let out of that room to re-unite with the missing family members and start the moving process. As they left the building, Cooper heard the rougher-voiced pilot say, “Damn, she _really_ smacked you, Mac. Sure she didn’t knock out any teeth?”

The name _Mac_ didn’t mean anything to him at the time. Later, he’d join the Militia, hear the name _James MacAllen,_ learn his story. After that, Cooper sometimes wondered if his aunt had slapped one of the Militia’s greatest heroes.

If it was true, that meant the Militia’s greatest hero had also been the man who threw Cooper out of his first home, a place where he’d been happy.

He didn’t resent MacAllen for it. Life was complicated sometimes.


	2. Chapter 2

They spent the next decade and a half being left alone after that move. Everything was fine—or, at least, it seemed fine. Sometimes Cooper wondered if his parents protected him from the worst of it during the last three years of the Titan Wars and the early, brushfire-combat years of the Frontier Wars.

They couldn’t keep him away from it forever, though. He didn’t stay ten forever, and the older he got, the more he noticed.

Sometimes officials who didn’t even live on the planet got nitpicky about food production, equipment manufacturing, or trying to grow exotic plants for the core that wouldn’t last ten seconds in their biome because “they sold well in the core.” People would come and go from his school, relocated to and from this planet seemingly on a whim, with no real rhyme or reason except that “the company’s needs have changed.” He spent a lot of time worried that they’d send away members of his family, or send his immediate family again and he’d never see his cousins.

That never happened. But he saw it happen to a lot of people. Especially as the IMC seemed less interested in farming and more interested in fuel.

When he was older, Cooper’s university was shut down for a month. He never learned the official reasons, but he always suspected had something to do with some people on the student paper. He never did go back, finishing off his Bachelor’s long-distance; from what he heard, he was better off. Things were never the same afterwards. Student paper was shut down. Professors replaced. One of his cousins said they were “company bootlickers.” Cooper had no reason to disbelieve that.

Finding work was hard, so he stayed home to help on the farm. That was when the issues really started becoming apparent. He tried to block it out, focus on the harvest, focus on the kids his cousins were having, focus on keeping the greenhouse intact and the car fueled and animals off the property. The last one was hard when the fence kept getting mysterious holes in it.

_Mysterious_, right. Cooper had a few ideas about that one, though he’d never been able to prove them. At least not until the irrigation system started _mysteriously_ getting problems, too.

“Dad.”

Samuel Cooper was a patient man. Jack had never, in the over twenty years he’d been alive, known his dad to respond to stress with anything but calm. Today, his shoulders were tense, his stare distant, and he wasn’t even fixing the filtration system. He was just staring at the damage, probably thinking the same thing Cooper had been.

They’d seen damage animals caused. It didn’t look like _this_.

“Dad,” Cooper said again. This time, he got a grunt in response. “What’re we going to do about this?”

He wasn’t talking about the filter.

Dad sighed and shut the cover. “Honestly, Jackie, I have no idea.”

Cooper was a grown man. He knew better than to think that his parents had all the answers. But hearing his father say that chilled him.

That was the day the weight of what they were going through really sunk in—a day that, in hindsight, was just foreshadowing for worse to come.


	3. Chapter 3

Mom’s side of the family was from Mexico originally. He only felt in touch with that cultural heritage when he was at Tia Ofelia’s house. It was, for starters, pretty much the only place he still spoke Spanish regularly.

_“Where’s your father run off to, anyways?” _Ofelia was setting the table while Jack helped—a ritual so familiar Jack could probably do it blindfolded. _“He knows we’re not going to wait up for him if he’s late, right?_”

_“Yeah, he’s just checking the…”_ Jack inhaled sharply as he tried to remember the word, but gave up. “Harvester? _It broke again.”_

_“Again? What’s been getting into it?”_

_“Not to name names, but…starts with an I, ends with a C?”_

Ofelia sighed heavily. _“Of course it is. You seen anyone lurking around?”_

_“No, just the Howlers.”_

_“Well…”_ She put the last plate down. “_…you do see anyone, you make sure to kick their ass for me, yeah?”_

Jack laughed. “_I’ll definitely do that.”_

He’d always liked Ofelia best of everyone in his extended family. Shit like this was the reason why. He just hoped she didn’t go slapping any more IMC officials. That one incident was rarely discussed, but definitely remembered.

Dad did show up just as dinner was about to start. He had that exhausted look about him, but he plastered on a smile, as always, and thanked Ofelia for cooking. Cooper wanted to ask him about what had happened, how bad the damage was, but he kept his mouth shut.

The thing was, his extended family’s viewpoints on the IMC varied drastically. On one end of the spectrum, there were people like Ofelia and himself, who thought that they were incompetent and misinformed at best and actively malicious at worse. On the other end, there were people like his dad’s brother Uncle Jesse or his mom’s other sister’s husband Tio Victor, who thought that the IMC was keeping the Frontier civilized, and the only people actively being hurt by them were insurrectionists who had it coming anyways. Somewhere in the middle you had people like Tio Walt or his cousin Ed, who didn’t agree with everything the IMC did but thought that fighting them was useless, and that the best option was to try and negotiate with them.

Needless to say, these vastly differing viewpoints had lead to some “spirited” “debates” in the past, so the subject was officially off the table. The point of these big monthly dinners was to foster family togetherness among the lot of them, to bring in the disparate parts of the family that had been scattered across Persephone for work or because they got married or whatever, to meet the latest girlfriends and boyfriends and stay connected. It _wasn’t_ to watch Tio Victor get called a booklicker by Uncle Cliff while Mom and Dad stood off to the side trying to decide if taking sides would be worth another hushed fight that they thought Cooper wouldn’t be able to hear, even though he definitely could.

So everyone kept their mouths shut. No one asked Dad about the harvester. Not even Cooper.

It was nice to have a peaceful dinner, especially when his family was as big and opinionated as it was, and double-especially when Mom and Dad’s fights were getting more frequent. But a part of Cooper couldn’t help resenting the quiet. It felt like they were ignoring the metaphorical elephant in the room—or a metaphorical Howler with its teeth near their throats.

It was going to bite down sooner or later. Especially if they didn’t do anything about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long-time fic followers may recognize the name Tia Ofelia, and yes, this is the same aunt Cooper mentioned in "the proving grounds." Cooper has a Big Family because I said so.


	4. Chapter 4

“…our records indicate that there are three people living here?”

Jack’s grip tightened on the knife he was holding. It was good for food, but probably not good for stabbing. Good thing it wouldn’t come to that.

He hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

“There _were_ three people,” Dad said quietly. “My…Johanna doesn’t live here anymore. She’s with her sister. They live on the same property, about five minutes up the road.”

The IMC official hummed and tapped something into his tablet. “And when was the last time the land was scanned for fuel deposits?”

_There it is._

Jack brought the knife down on the carrots again. _Chop. Chop. Chop._ If he kept his head down and kept working on dinner, maybe they wouldn’t notice him. Dad could wrap up this conversation without being a smartass. Jack was less confident in his own ability to _not_ be a smartass.

“Deposits were noted, but they’re small. It was decided the land was better suited for farming. I have the papers.”

God bless Dad’s paperwork hoarding.

The IMC official didn’t look convinced, though. He kept taking notes. “Well, we’re going to have another look. The company’s needs have changed.”

“_Ours_ haven’t,” Jack muttered.

He cringed immediately.

_Maybe the guy didn’t hear me?_

The IMC officer stared him down. “I’m sorry?” asked the man.

_Shit._

Well, he’d committed to running his mouth off. Might as well. “People on this planet still need food, sir. You’re not going to have anyone to mine the fuel if we all starve.” Jack met the man’s gaze briefly, then focused on his nose. “I’m sure your notes tell you how many planets Persephone supplies food to. You can’t mine for fuel and plant on the same land.”

The official stared coldly at Jack. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. “The papers?”

He left with dad to get the documents, leaving Jack alone in the kitchen. Jack groaned quietly and leaned against the counter. Damn it, why’d he have to open his mouth? He doubted that the official would do anything beyond getting snippy, and they’d never been able to _prove_ that the IMC were the ones messing with them. But it was enough to keep him worried.

Enough to make him worry that he’d just made things worse.

The officer left without any trouble, though Dad still looked tense as he sat down at the kitchen table. There were a lot of things Jack wanted to say or ask. He even thought about apologizing for running his mouth. But what came out of his mouth was, “Why’d you say Mom doesn’t live here anymore?”

It was true that his mom hadn’t been around for a few days, but she sometimes stayed with Tia Ofeia for a few days. It helped her and Dad cool down if they’d been fighting. She’d never been gone for longer than three days, and things always went smoother afterwards. He hadn’t been worried about it…or, at least, he hadn’t been until now.

He hoped Dad would be able to answer. But he didn’t. He didn’t give any kind of answer at all.

_Great._ Another thing to worry about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 1/26/2020 to tweak some language.


	5. Chapter 5

“And it’s been how long?”

“A month.” Jack adjusted his headphones for what felt like the thousandth time since he started working. He would’ve just put it on speaker, but he didn’t want to risk his dad hearing the whole conversation. “She’s never been gone this long.”

_“Shit.”_ Alicia Wu, Jack’s friend and neighbor must’ve been home alone. She’d never swear like that if her parents could hear. “I am so sorry.”

“It’s…” Cooper paused, both to make sure the screw he’d been working on was securely in place and to gather his thoughts. “I don’t know. I want to ask but I’m worried that will make things worse.”

“You could ask Crissie?”

It was a good point. Jack’s younger cousin Cristina was at a good intersection of _knows everything about family drama_ and _non-judgmental towards the involved parties._ He could typically trust her to give him just the facts and _not_ talk shit about either of his parents. “Maybe? She’s been out in town a lot with her job, though. I barely see her these days.”

“Her job and her boyfriend?”

Jack laughed. It felt like the first time he’d laughed in a while. “Yeah, probably. Ofelia still doesn’t know about that, by the way.”

“_Wow._ That’s impressive. And a bit terrifying.”

“I know. I don’t know how she does it.”

The pause on the other end went on a bit too long.

“Al?” Jack tried, thinking for a moment that the signal had dropped.

“Hey, where are you?” Alicia replied.

“At home. Why?”

“Because there’s three guys wandering around the yard and two of them have guns.”

_No...no, no, **shit.**_

Jack dropped the tool he was holding and made a beeline for the motor bike. “IMC?”

“Sure is. Do you mind coming…?”

“Already on my way.” His voice stayed calm, but his hands were shaking as he started up the bike. “Stay on the line, okay? Let me know if they try anything.”

“I will.”

Jack tried to tell himself that everything would be fine, that the rumors they’d heard about preemptive marshal law or worse going down on other planets were just rumors, that there was no way they’d be so stupid as to hurt Alicia. He ignored the whispers that said his friend was five-foot-four, alone and unarmed, that the amount of _rumors_ was starting to look like_ fact,_ that two of the men were _armed_ and you didn’t show up somewhere armed without good reason. He knew he could make it to Alicia’s in ten minutes if he hauled ass there, but he made himself slow down as he got closer.

_Don’t look suspicious. Stay calm, don’t act suspicious…_

There was a truck parked a little bit down the road—probably hoping to keep the Wu’s from noticing them right away. Cooper’s grip on the handles tightened as he approached the house. Alicia ran to him the second he parked the bike. “They’re around back. I don’t know what they want still, but it looks like they’re scanning for something.”

“Probably signs of fuel deposits. They were asking about them at my place. You good?”

“I don’t know about _good_, but…”

“Excuse me?” A third voice cut in; when Cooper turned, he saw an IMC official and two men with guns. The official was the same one who’d been by Cooper’s house. Cooper tried to play it casual, like he didn’t recognize the man. “Is this your home, young lady?”

“Yeah, I live here,” Alicia said. She was playing it off, relaxed but businesslike; Cooper knew that it was forced. She was either scared or pissed, but most likely both. Cooper rested a hand on her shoulder for support and tried to hold eye contact with the official. “What do you want?”

“We were hoping to ask the homeowner about some fuel deposits in the area. Do you have…”

“Yeah, I’m not the homeowner. That’s my parents. They’re not home.”

“…all right. Do you know when they’ll be home?”

“Nope.”

“…well, do you think that maybe we could…”

“I don’t really feel comfortable discussing official business without my parents.”

“It would only take…”

“I don’t feel comfortable discussing official business without my parents.”

Cooper knew Alicia well enough to know that she could keep this conversation going in circles for a while. The official seemed to realize it as well, from the pissed off look on his face. He tried and failed to suppress the expression. “Well, when you see your parents, tell them that we need to talk to them about these findings and we expect to hear from them within the week.” The official’s eyes lingered on Cooper, as if memorizing his face. Maybe he _did _recognize him. Shit. “It’s _very_ important.”

“Yep, I’ll do that,” Alicia said. The look on her face heavily implied a _now get the hell off my property._

And, fortunately, they did.

“…shit.” Alicia sat down on the dirt once they were out of sight. “_Shit_.”

“Yeah.” Cooper sat down next to her. It was a sunny day, beautiful, even, but that offered very little comfort. “I’m sorry. I got here as soon as I could.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize. I know you did.” Alicia leaned against his shoulder and sighed heavily. “This is serious, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is.”

They sat in silence for a while, as if making sure those men weren’t coming back. When they didn’t, the two of them went inside. They talked about anything else, anything that wasn’t the IMC. The closest they came was when Alicia mentioned she’d gotten a package from an old friend of hers from off-planet. Alicia been relocated, too, under similar circumstances to Cooper, but three years after his own move

Cooper didn’t want to admit it, but the fear that it could happen again was taking root in his mind.

Cooper didn’t leave until Alicia’s parents got back. He spent the entire ride back to his place trying not to think about everything that could go wrong.

It didn’t work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 1/26/2020 to tweak some language.


	6. Chapter 6

“What are you doing here?”

Cristina looked up from her tablet. “Uh, I live here? What are _you_ doing here?”

“I came by to see Mom. Don’t you have work?”

“Nah. I’m on strike.”

Cooper did a double-take. “You’re on_ strike?_”

“Yeah, most of us are. I’m going back out to the picket line soon. I just need to grab some stuff.” She set her tablet back down and went to the fridge. “I hope you don’t want anything from the city any time soon. It could get gnarly out there. We’re not the only ones going on strike.”

Cooper didn’t think much of that conversation at the time. It wasn’t like he disapproved—in fact, he was all for it. Cristina didn’t say much about what was happening, but after everything that had gone down at home and with the Wu’s, he was sure the strike was warranted. But he didn’t get involved, because he rarely went into town and Cristina never asked him to. It seemed like they were handling things on their own pretty well. Cooper almost forgot they’d had the conversation until three days later, when he had to go into the city.

He took the same route he always did: bike to the train station, bullet train into the city. It was a nice day—sunny, bit of a breeze, the sort of day where it seemed like nothing could go wrong. Maybe that was why it caught him off guard to hear shouting in the distance. He thought something was wrong, until he turned the corner.

_That_ was when he remembered the conversation.

There were a _lot_ of people there, more than Cooper had expected. There were people from multiple workforces, if the uniforms and signs were anything to go by. Someone was yelling into a megaphone, something about unfair wages and unsafe working conditions. People would murmur and shout in agreement on occasion.

_Damn_._ Good for them._

The bad news—more inconvenient than bad, really—was that he would have to wade through the strike in order to get to the store. It wasn’t all bad, though; Cooper figured it’d be a good chance to learn about what was happening on the rest of Persephone. It was pretty clear to him now that it wasn’t the farmers who were feeling the pressure. This ran deeper than he knew.

Cooper pushed his way through the crowd, trying not to look like he was breaking the strike line. The good news was that it seemed peaceful: yelling aside, no fights had broken out, and he didn’t see a major police presence. _Wonder how long that will last_, thought his cynical side.

He tried to press that thought down _real_ hard.

“Jack?”

Cooper turned around. He recognized Cristina immediately, and with her his other cousin Raleigh and Raligh’s girlfriend, Evelyn. “Hey!” Cooper pushed through the crowd to get to them. “This is…bigger than I thought it would be.”

“Yeah, well, people are pissed.” Cristina looked around the crowds with a pleased expression on her face. “About time we started speaking out. Are you going to stay? Every little bit helps.”

“I was just here to get repair parts, but…yeah, I think I can stick around.” Information gathering aside, it would give him a chance to get away from the farm for a bit. Even with Mom living out of the house, the atmosphere at home felt strained, almost oppressively so. Any chance to get away from that was welcome. “Did I miss anything exciting?”

“Robbie is about to talk.” _Robbie_. That was the secret boyfriend, Cooper was pretty sure. Then again, what he knew about the secret boyfriend was pretty limited (because, y’know, _secret_). “Other than that...some IMC guys showed up to try and spew some bullshit. They got booed off the stage.”

_Interesting_. “Did anyone talk about how they’ve been looking for fuel deposits a lot lately?”

“I know it’s come up with some of the people from the farmer’s union, but most of the focus has been on the factory and shipping conditions. And stuff from people who’ve been relocated.” Cristina’s face lit up. “Oh! There he is!”

Cooper was just as interested to finally see the mystery boyfriend as he was to hear what he had to say. The guy did look like someone Cristina would date: classically handsome, tanned skin, brown hair, green eyes, with an edge of conviction that was perfection for this kind of setting. He got up in front of everyone and started to speak. “I want to start by thanking everyone for coming here. I know that this is scary for a lot of you, but…” He laughed. “…screw it, they can’t fire all of us, right?”

The comment got a laugh, some people finding it funnier than others. “Or maybe they can. But that’s the point, isn’t it? They think we’re replaceable. That we’re just those robots they make in their facilities. They think they can displace use and work us to the bone and rob us of our homes on a whim. How many of you here have been moved within the past few years? How many of you are new here?”

A lot of people raised their voices in confirmation—a _disturbing_ amount. Suddenly, Cooper’s fear of losing his home didn’t feel so paranoid.

“How long do they think this can go on? It’s open war on other planets. They thought they suppressed all dissent during the Titan Wars, that they can keep treating us like this because they won. They _can’t_. We may not use weapons, but we’re not afraid to fight back!”

People _really_ agreed with that one.

It would’ve been easy to get wrapped up in the high spirits and excitement. Cooper, however, suddenly felt a sinking feeling. It was like the gut feeling you go when there was a predator watching you from the trees. You may not have seen it just yet, but you knew it was there. As he looked around, he noticed that there seemed to be more cops than before. And they were _definitely_ better armed than the ones he’d seen.

“…we should go,” he said.

“Wh-“ Raleigh saw it too. His eyes widened. “Oh, shit, you don’t think…”

“Do you want to find out?” Cooper grabbed his arm in one hand and Cristina’s in the other. Cristina started protesting; Cooper ignored her and kept dragging. “Let’s just…”

_“All assembled persons are being asked to disperse! Please move off the main road!”_

This megaphone was drowning out Robbie. Cooper glanced back over his shoulder, praying that things wouldn’t escalate. The crowds were too thick and he wouldn’t be able to run. Robbie kept trying to talk, but the police kept shouting over him. “_Disperse quietly and calmly. Those who do not leave of their own will accord be removed._”

Robbie turned to them and said, calmly but full of fury, “We’re not going anywhere, but thank you for proving my point, you corporate _bootlickers_…”

That got people yelling. The crowd started moving like a school of fish in the same direction, one that definitely _wasn’t_ dispersing. They were just barely out of the crushing danger, but that didn’t mean they weren’t out of danger. Especially not when Cristina was trying to get _back_ into the crowd. “Cris, we’ve gotta go - !”

“_I can’t just leave him!_”

“He’s a grown-ass man, he can take care of himself! We have to…”

He heard the canisters being thrown before he saw the gas clouds start forming.

_Oh, **shit**, time to go._

Raleigh must’ve had the same thought, because he literally picked up Cristina and started running. Cooper fled after him, Evelyn hot on their heels. He could hear what sounded like guns (rubber bullets, but that’d still _hurt_) and more tear gas. They weren’t the only ones running; they might have gotten out away from the main clustering of the crowd, but once the tear gas started, _everyone_ was running. Cooper kept a death grip on Raleigh’s sleeve and Evelyn’s hand as they ran on ahead. Cristina was swearing up a blue streak.

_Sorry, Cristina!_

His grip had to tighten as the crowds caught up to them. The gas was starting to drift downwind, stinging Cooper’s eyes even in a less-concentrated state. Someone clipped his shoulder, nearly knocking free his grip on Evelyn. When he looked back at her, she was pointing up ahead. “There…!”

There was a door nearby. If they could slip in, they’d be able to wait until the worst of the mob moved by. Cooper shouted it to Raleigh, who was able to shove them through the crowd and to the door. They burst through just as Cooper heard some more tear gas canisters being fired.

The second the doors shut, the sounds of panicked shouting and rubber bullets being fired stopped. Cooper could hear faint piano music playing somewhere. The air seemed…_sparkly_, of all things, but he realized it was light reflecting off a chandelier. He rubbed his eyes with his sleeve, turning the blur of golds and faint figures into an actual setting. A hotel. They were in a hotel lobby. It was a nicer place, high end, probably the kind of place IMC officials stayed when they were in town. A few people waiting to be checked in turned to stare at them. All of them looked unhurried, unconcerned about the chaos outside. It was so strange and surreal that Cooper couldn’t help wondering if he was dreaming.

“Excuse me…”

One of the receptionists came out from behind the desk. She looked alarmed. “We don’t allow loitering…”

“We know, we know, just give us a minute…” Cooper hadn’t realized how hard he was breathing until then. “Just one minute. It’s a madhouse out there.”

The woman hesitated, glanced over their shoulder and out the glass windows. You could still see people rushing past. Smog was starting to fill the street. A few of the guests looked as well, then returned back to whatever it was they were doing. The sight made Cooper’s stomach turn. “…you’re disturbing the guests,” the woman said dutifully, as if reading from a script. “I’ll have to ask you to leave. This way, please.”

Cooper was about to protest, but something about the look in her eyes said that he could trust her. After glancing back at the others to confirm they saw it too, he followed. Cristina, who had been put down now, kept looking back towards the windows as they went, as if trying to see Robbie.

_I hope he’s okay._

The receptionist lead them out back and to what looked like a staff hallway. Once they were behind closed doors, she dropped all pretense. “Sorry about that…are any of you hurt?”

“I’m not,” Raleigh said. “Guys?”

Evelyn and Cooper shook their heads. “I’m _fine_,” Cristina said, rage evident in her eyes. “Those _bastards__…_”

“Not so loud, please. Some of those bastards’ bosses are staying here.” The receptionist rubbed her temple, taking a second to gather herself. “I can get you some water and you can stay here for a few minutes, but I can’t cover for you forever. I’m really sorry…”

“No, we get it,” Cooper said immediately. She had to keep her job. He wasn’t going to judge her; he didn’t know what her situation was or how badly she might need the money. “Thank you.”

“No problem. I’ll be right back with that water, okay?”

Once she was gone, Evelyn sat down heavily. Cooper did the same. His legs suddenly felt weak. “Well, that sucked,” Raleigh said dully.

Cristina didn’t say anything. Cooper had a feeling she wasn’t going to be talking to them for a bit. She was probably still mad they’d left behind Robbie.

_Sorry, Cris. Family comes first._ Put on your own mask before helping others and all that.

The receptionist came back with water, which they chugged down. It didn’t take the lingering itchy feeling that the drifting tear gas left on his skin—or maybe it was all in his head. He couldn’t quite tell. They were hesitant to leave that hotel corridor, but they had to, eventually, taking the back exit that the receptionist told them about.

When they went around the back and emerged out onto the main road again, it was almost completely empty. There were signs of things that had gone wrong—discarded protest signs, dropped articles of clothing, discarded rubber bullets, marks on the road where the tear gas canisters had burst open. The air still smelled of the stuff; if Cooper didn’t know any better, he could’ve sworn he still felt the energy of the scene, the blind panic changing the air even more deeply than the tear gas had.

“C’mon,” Raleigh said, gently nudging Cooper’s shoulder. “Let’s go home.”

“…I’ve got to get some stuff for the harvester.” It was such a _stupid_ thing to say while overlooking the aftermath of such chaos, but it was true. He still needed to get supplies. Riot cops or not, he couldn’t go back empty-handed. “You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up.”

Raleigh looked like he was about to protest, but it was clear he knew that Cristina would have to be coaxed (or possibly carried) home. He was in the best position to do it. “_Be careful_,” Raleigh said, his voice tinged with stress and concern.

Cooper tried to smile. He was sure it looked as fake as it felt. “I won’t be long. I promise.”

The streets were more or less abandoned; Cooper wasn’t accosted or stopped at any point. A few cops gave him the side-eye, but he didn’t look like he was from the protests—no insignias, no signs, nothing of that sort—so he could coast from store to store and make his purchases as if nothing were wrong.

That was the sick part: going about his life and running errands as if he hadn’t seen a peaceful protest turn into a moment of mass panic because of the overzealous corporate police. As if he hadn’t nearly been tear gassed or shot at. As if it were just another shopping trip on a beautiful day. He moved as if on autopilot, keeping up with the façade.

Nothing was normal. Everyone knew it. He could see it in their eyes. But they were on autopilot, too.

The ride home felt much longer than it should have. He spent every second waiting for the other shoe to drop and the full weight of what he’d just been through to finally sink in.

It never did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some notes!
> 
> 1) This chapter is based on [a story director Bong Joon Ho shared when talking about his inspiration for one of the train cars in Snowpiercer.](https://screechthemighty.tumblr.com/post/95658913388/in-the-eighties-when-i-was-in-college-in-1988) The imagery of it always stuck with me so I put Cooper through the same situation because it seemed fitting.
> 
> 2) You should watch Snowpiercer, it's very good.
> 
> 3) Yes, Robbie is meant to look like Jesse Williams.
> 
> 4) There's an Apex Legends cameo in this chapter if you know where to look.
> 
> Edited 1/26/2020 to tweak some language.


	7. Chapter 7

One week later, he came home to find Robbie sitting on his front steps.

“Who’s _that_?” Alicia asked. She had volunteered to come over and help him with inventory. Cooper had the sudden, sinking suspicion that they wouldn’t be getting to that today.

“That’s the secret boyfriend,” Cooper said. “Robbie, apparently.”

“_No way_. Wait, what’s he doing here?”

“Hell if I know.” Cooper looked around for Cristine as he approached. No sign of her. _Huh_. “Uhm…hello?”

Robbie looked up. That was when Cooper saw the bruising on his face. Despite the fact that looked like hell, Robbie managed a smile. “Hey…it’s Jack, right?”

“Uhm…yeah, Jack Cooper. This is Alicia Wu. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s…I don’t mean to intrude. Cristine just said this would be a safe place to wait while she talked to her parents about me staying with them. I got kicked out of my apartment after they let me out of prison.”

Cooper suddenly felt really bad about running away from the riot police without Robbie. He felt even worse when Alicia asked, “Hold on, did all of that happen to you in _jail?_”

Robbie laughed bitterly. “Yeah, the guards aren’t too fond of me in there.”

The admission hit Cooper like a gut punch. The realization that Robbie had been beaten up for being involved in a strike was bad enough, but the additional realization that Cooper wasn’t shocked by it was _worse_. “…you wanna come in?” he asked.

Robbie did. First thing Cooper did was put on coffee and start looking for snacks. He’d made biscuits the night before. His stress baking was at an all-time high after the protest-gone-wrong. “Are you okay?” Alicia asked as Cooper started on coffee. “Stupid question. Rephrase. Do I need to call a doctor?”

“No, I’m okay. They just roughed me up a bit. Thought they could scare me.” Robbie didn’t look scared, but he _did_ look in pretty rough shape. It wasn’t just the bruises; he sat as if he were sore, wincing at the slightest movement. It reminded Cooper of the shape Mom had been in after falling out of a tree while doing some research at work. “I’m one of the lucky ones. There’s a lot of people still in there for the crime of _peacefully protesting_.”

“Why’d they let _you_ out?”

“I got a good judge and Cristina posted my bail. There wasn’t much they could hold me on, anyway.”

Alicia and Cooper exchanged a look. Neither of them had a ton of experience in this area, being collectively too boring to end up in prison (so far), but damn, posting bail for someone seemed pretty serious. Cristina must’ve _really_ liked this guy. “Is it really as bad as you were saying?” Cooper asked as he started setting out the coffee. “With all those people being relocated?”

“Worse. I was asking around while I was in prison. There are horror stories.” Robbie’s voice grew more serious as he spoke. “There were some men from Andromeda who said there was an explosion at the nuclear plant in their settlement. People died, a lot of people, but they covered the whole thing up.”

“_What?!”_

_“Seriously?_”Alicia said at almost the same time. “How do they cover up an _explosion_ at a _nuclear plant?_”

“Made it seem like worker error. Undersold how bad the actual fallout and damage was. Went after anyone who tried to speak up about it. And that’s not all. There were unarmed protests on the Eclipse moon colony. The IMC opened fire on them with live ammo. Not with rubber bullets. People _died_.”

The weight of that declaration settled over the room like thick smoke. Cooper had to take a few deep breaths as he processed things. “They’re…_sure_ about that?” Alicia said hesitantly. “_Really_ sure? This isn’t just a rumor or propaganda or something?”

Robbie shook his head. “Person I spoke to was there. She said they claimed they were an _armed militia_ to justify it. That they were going to bomb the base or some _bullshit_. Not a word about how the aggressive mining they’ve been doing there is causing damage to the _entire moon_. Or all the people who have died in_ mining accidents_ because the conditions aren’t safe anymore_._ Or the jobs lost because it’s easier to send MRVNs down there than it is to make conditions safe.” He started counting off planets on his fingers. “There’s been more mining accidents on Respite and New Dawn. Multiple factory accidents in Angel City. They had to evacuate the largest settlement in Artemis because of toxic fumes, and they still haven’t been told what caused them. And everywhere there’s protests, there’s mass arrests or worse. It’s not just us. It’s _everywhere_.”

Cooper could feel his leg start bouncing anxiously. He tried to still it, but ended up knocking his knuckles against the table, over and over, as if that would somehow improve the situation. Alicia was chewing on her lower lip, a sign that she was thinking intensely. “…you really think they’d be that stupid?” she asked quietly. “I mean, after everything that happened with the Titan Wars…”

“They think the Titan Wars proved that they have all the power. They’re either willfully blind or completely ignorant to the fact that they just made people resent them.” Robbie scratched at a shallow cut on his cheek. “They never addressed any of the issues that lead to the Titan Wars to begin with. They’ve just doubled down on all of them. Another war is inevitable at this point.”

_Another war is inevitable._ The comment made Cooper’s stomach turn. He was about to ask more questions, about if Robbie knew anything about the fuel deposits the IMC was so intent on finding, if Cooper’s family was at any risk, about what they should _do_. But before he could…

“Jack?”

Dad was standing in the entrance to the kitchen, looking at all of them with a confused and wary expression. “Oh, uhm…hey, Dad.” It must’ve looked like they were having some kind of secretive union meeting in the kitchen. Probably _not _something Dad wanted to see. “This is Robbie. He’s a friend of Cristina’s from work.”

“…hi.” Dad looked uncomfortable, and not in the _Dad doesn’t like unexpected company_ way that Cooper was used to seeing. Maybe he _did_ think they were having some kind of secretive union meeting. “Is, uhm, Cristina here, too?”

“She’s at her place, I think. I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” Or at least, he hoped so. Cooper had nothing against Robbie, but the atmosphere in the room had changed in a way he didn’t like. It was too heavy, too much. “Uhm…coffee?”

“…no, I’m all right. I was just…here for some blueprints. You guys enjoy yourself, yeah?” He glanced at Robbie, then nodded at Alicia. “Alicia.”

“Mr. Cooper.” Alicia waited until Dad had walked to a back room before speaking again, quietly. “Everything good with you guys?”

Cooper sighed quietly. “No.” He didn’t want to elaborate in front of guests. Fortunately, Alicia knew him well enough to interpret his tone and the look on his face.

_Everything still sucks and people still won’t tell me anything._

Despite not having the full context, Robbie looked sympathetic. “They been harassing you about fuel deposits lately?” he asked. He grimaced when Cooper nodded. “Yeah. My family, too.”

That feeling of dread in Cooper’s stomach was starting to become a permanent fixture.

He didn’t like it.

Cristina did came back later for Robbie. Dad didn’t say anything about it, but Cooper could tell he was tense. He, at least, waited until both Robbie and Alicia had left and they were sitting down for dinner before he said anything.

“He’s not a friend from work, is he?”

Cooper hesitated. “I assume he’s from work,” he said. “I don’t know for sure.”

“He’s one of those protestors, isn’t he?”

“…yeah.”

Dad didn’t say anything. He just kept tapping his fork against his plate. Cooper couldn’t take the tension. “Dad, is it really that bad out there?”

No response. Cooper kept talking, trying to fill the quiet with…something. _Anything. _“If things are going wrong, we should…we should do something about it. Right? We should be ready, just in case…”

“In case what, Jack?”

Dad sounded frustrated, but resigned at the same time_._ It was the tone of a man who was backed into a corner and couldn’t see a way out. A tone that Cooper had _never _heard his father use before, not even when the crops were struggling or the arguments with Mom were bad or something had sparked up that had the family at each others’ throats.

Any answer Cooper might have had died in his throat. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he had _no_ idea where he was going with that thought. In case what? In case the IMC came with guns and Titans again? In case he had to stand between his mother and an armed company man again? What could they possibly do if things were already going so wrong?

The thought that he might not be able to protect his family, his friends, terrified him.

The thought that there was no one to protect _him_, not even his own father, was equally terrifying.

_What if there’s nothing we can do?_

Cooper swallowed past the lump in his throat and turned back to his meal. Neither of them said anything until the meal was over and they started gathering up their dishes. “I don’t want to see anyone like him around here again, okay?” Dad said.

It didn’t feel like rolling over and accepting their fate—though part of Cooper wanted it to feel like that. It would have been so much easier if it felt like they _had _options, but Dad just didn’t want to take then. Instead, iIt felt like the only logical course of action to stay alive. The howler chewing off his own foot to escape a trap.

“Okay,” Cooper said. “I promise.”

Mom didn’t come home again that night. Cooper didn’t sleep a wink. He wasn’t sure Dad did, either.

That night was when the other shoe finally, _finally_ dropped. The world was falling apart around him. He could see it now.

And all he could do was watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recent Apex Lore means I hate the IMC more than ever, so that may give me more muse to work on this fic. That said, I'm going to try alternating updates on this fic and my ongoing Miraith fic, just to spread things out a bit. We'll see how that goes. Also, coming up with planet names is hard, y'all.


	8. Chapter 8

The IMC didn’t bother them for a while afterwards, but that didn’t mean things were quiet.

Robbie ended up staying with Cristina, but that decision caused _way_ more unrest in the family than Cooper could’ve predicted. The people who wanted to play nice with the IMC were appalled, the ones who _didn’t_ all rallied around Robbie, and Cooper found himself constantly walking on eggshells to avoid setting off either side.

Raleigh and Evelyn announced their engagement not long after, but even that news wasn’t enough to clear the bad mood that hovered over them like a swarm of flies.

Mom and Dad still weren’t talking. That didn’t help, either.

He started spending more time at Alicia’s house, just to get away from everything. She, blessedly, only provided information about what was going on when Cooper asked. Whenever he _did_ ask, she knew a surprising amount.

“They’ve asked pretty much everyone in our district,” she told him one time as she carefully closed the top of her bao. She had volunteered to take over dinner since her parents were busy with the farm workers. Cooper had volunteered to help because cooking always helped his nerves. “Some people more persistently than others. I’m guessing they’re the people who have the biggest fuel deposits, not that they’re very big. Comparatively, anyways. They must be desperate if they’re coming here.”

“Do you think they’re having troubles on other planets?” Cooper kept his eyes on the bao as he spoke. He’d made it his personal mission to seal them as perfectly as possible. “Maybe there _is_ fighting happening and it’s disrupting fuel production?”

“Could be. Especially if all that organized resistance talk I keep hearing is true.”

“Organized resistance, huh? Good luck to them.” He set the bao down and moved on to the next one. “Robbie will be happy to hear it.”

“How’s he doing, anyway?”

“Bruises have healed and he’s learned to keep his mouth shut unless he wants to start World War III. I think it’s rough on him, but…he really does seem to care about Cristina, so he’s playing nice.”

“Engagement #2, maybe?”

“Maybe. At least everyone has been focused on Raleigh and not asking me why I’m still single.”

Alicia snorted. “Sounds like _my_ parents. But for serious, why _are_ you still single?”

Cooper laughed awkwardly. He hoped he wasn’t blushing too much, though he knew it was coming. “I’m socially awkward at best and never do anything exciting?”

“You say _socially awkward and boring_, I say _reliable and knows when to shut up_. Besides…” She pointed to the bao he’d made already. “…pretty sure that technique makes you one of the most eligible bachelors on the planet.”

Oh, he was definitely blushing now—partially out of genuine embarrassment, partially because he had to face the fact that he _had_ been hoping she’d notice. “I’ll put it on my dating profile. Maybe it’ll counteract the fact that I still live with my parents.”

“_Please_, most of us farm kids still do. You’re…”

The sound of footsteps running down the hall cut her off. They both looked out of the kitchen in time to see Mr. Wu running into the living room and looking for something? “_Bà?_” Alicia asked worriedly.

Mr. Wu said something in rapid-fire Mandarin, too fast for Cooper to translate. Alicia had been trying to teach him for years, but he still wasn’t very good. He thought he heard _mom_. Alicia replied more slowly. _Something-something town, what’s wrong? _He was pretty sure Mr. Wu replied with _nothing_ before he walked into the kitchen. Aside from the exertion showing on his face, as if he’d run home, he looked perfectly calm. “Jack, you’re more than welcome to stay for dinner if you’d like,” he said. “Might be a good idea. The weather’s looking a bit overcast.”

It was perfectly sunny outside. It had been all day and would be all day, if the weather man was right. Cooper glanced Alicia’s way. The growing look of concern on her face said a lot. “…is the weather looking overcast out near my place?” Cooper asked.

Mr. Wu didn’t answer.

_Shit_.

“…I should…go, actually.” Cooper put the half-finished bao down and went to wash his hands. They were shaking already. The dread was settling in thick and fast, a bone deep need to be _home_, right now. “Dad needs some help with stuff tonight, I just remembered…”

“Can you call him? I don’t think that’s a good…”

“I’ll be fine.” Cooper stopped to give Alicia a one-armed hug. “I’ll see you around.”

“Hey, hold up…Dad, what’s going on?”

Jack would’ve waited, usually, but the dread was driving him out the door, back to his bike. He didn’t hear the conversation Mr. Wu and Alicia had, if they had one. He barely even remembered walking out the door, he was so intent on going. The only thing that snapped him out of it was Mr. Wu calling his name and running out the door after him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Wu, I really should…”

“Are you armed?”

The question caught Cooper off-guard. It also confirmed the dread that clung to his entire body. His hands were shaking even worse now, but he had enough control to open his coat. He was. He had used the excuse of it being mating season for the howlers—and that _was_ a valid reason to be armed, it made them more agitated than usual and with the control towers and fences being on the fritz so much, extra protection didn’t hurt. But the truth was…

Well, the truth was, he still wasn’t convinced that something bad wasn’t going to happen. And he wanted to be prepared if it did.

Mr. Wu glanced over his shoulder before patting Cooper’s shoulder. “_Be careful_,” he said. “Please.”

“I will.”

He probably should’ve asked what had Mr. Wu so spooked. It would’ve given him an idea of what to expect should the worst happen. But he was in such a hurry to get home that he couldn’t wait. He just wanted to make sure that everyone at home was okay. He booked it back to his house. It was still empty—Dad was probably still at work. Cooper called him on his way to Tia Ofelia’s place. “Hey, are you good?” Cooper asked the second his dad answered.

“I’m…fine? Jack, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. Something’s got Mr. Wu…”

Cooper’s mouth went dry.

He could see the house from where he was now. More specifically, he could see that his mom was standing in front of the door with Evelyn, practically barricading it with their bodies. There were three men standing in the front lawn. One was shouting at them threatening.

One had a gun pointed at his mother.

“Jack?” His dad asked. “_Jack_, what’s…”

Cooper ripped the earpiece out of his ear, got off his bike, and drew the pistol.

“Get the _hell away from her!_” he shouted.

The men turned to stare. They looked dubious at first, but then took a step back. Cooper was confused—he wasn’t _that_ threatening, gun or not—until he heard Raleigh. “_Evie!_”

He glanced over his shoulder in time to see Raleigh and a few of the hired hands. They were also armed. When he looked back, the three guys were making a run for it. Probably decided that the risk wasn’t worth it now that the fight was even. Mom was clutching at Evelyn, who had half-collapsed from the shock of whatever had happened.

It was over. It should’ve been over.

And yet.

“_Jack!_”

Cooper chased after the men.

It was stupid, he knew. Stupid, bone-headed, so _dumb_ when the situation was resolved and his mother was safe. But it wasn’t about his mother anymore. The pure blind rage that had overtaken him was about _everything._ The damaged equipment. The whispers around Persephone. The protest. Robbie’s bruises. Seeing Mr. Wu, normally one of the calmest and most cheerful people in existence, look so terrified. The cloud of fear he’d been living under over half his life now.

_All_ of it.

Going after those men would fix none of it, he knew. But he was _done_ with being afraid. Done with feeling powerless. Done with running away. Those men, whoever they were, were just the closest target. His logical side knew that it was a stupid call and that he should think about it, but the rage was too strong. It carried him across the fields, a creek, and into the tree line of a nearby forest where he lost sight of the men.

The logical part of his mind started speaking up louder as he followed them into the trees—_what the hell are you doing?_—but he kept moving. Kept scanning the trees for any sign of any risks.

_And what the hell are you going to do if you find them?_

Before he could answer the thought, something slammed into his face.

The impact knocked Cooper down. Before he could even try to get up, he was surrounded by people, each one of them bringing down a weapon, boot, or fist onto his body. He couldn’t tell, but it felt like a _lot_ more than three people. Cooper curled up on his side and covered his head, trying his best to protect himself. He could hear insults being thrown at him in between the blows. Every time he tried to move out of that defensive position, to try and fight _back_, he just felt another hit land somewhere sensitive.

There was nothing he could do. Nothing to do but lie there and pray they stopped.

“—_pick him up, grab him_\--!”

Cooper was hauled up and slammed against the tree. Someone pressed a gun to his face. “_You looking to eat a bullet, huh? You stupid little ingrate?!_”

_I’m gonna die here._

The thought chilled him. Cooper turned his head away and clenched his eyes shut. If he was going to die, he didn’t want the last thing he saw to be those men. He thought about home, he thought about his parents, he thought about Alicia…

_Please, please, I don’t want to die, I don’t…_

The gun moved away from his face. One of his attackers spoke, inches away from his face. “You try anything like that again and you will. Your people keep putting up a fight and they’ll get worse. You tell them that, okay?”

He didn’t reply. Didn’t open his eyes. Clenched his fists and refused to give them the satisfaction of an answer. The man huffed angrily and moved away; the next thing Cooper felt was a searing pain as something slammed into his jaw, driving his face into the tree. He slumped to the ground, unable to hold back a cry of pain.

“Backwater _trash_,” another voice snarl. “C’mon, let’s get out of here.”

No one hit him again, but at least two spit on him on their way out. Cooper lay there as their footsteps retreated deeper into the woods. At first it was a self-preservation instinct, but even once they had left and he knew he was alone, he realized he _couldn’t_ get up. Everything hurt too much.

At first, he gave into the desire to just lay there—to curl up and hope the pain stopped. But the pain didn’t stop. It wouldn’t stop.

_C’mon, Jack, get up. You’re howler bait if you stay here. You have to go home. Get up._

Cooper gritted his teeth and stood. His mouth was full of blood, but his face hurt too much to spit; he had to lean against the tree, look down, and let the blood dribble out. He was pretty sure a tooth came out with it. _Shit_, he’d need that replaced. Did they have the money for that?

His gun. Where had his pistol gone? He tried to look around, but his vision was swimming and the tree coverage made it hard to see. He’d probably dropped it during the fight, and if they saw it on the ground afterwards…

_Get out of the woods, Jack. Don’t worry about the gun._

Moving hurt, but he forced himself to walk. He wasn’t sure where he was, but he was pretty sure he remembered which direction he’d come from. So he walked. One step. Another step. Another. Another, only sometimes stopping to lean against a tree and let some more blood drain from his mouth. That forward motion was the first thing he’d had any kind of control over since the beating started.

_Get a move on, Jack._

As he walked, he thought he heard something—was that a voice? Someone calling his name? He thought he was hallucinating for a second, maybe from the head trauma. But as the voice grew louder, he realized he knew it.

“_JACK!_”

Alicia?

He thought he said her name, but even to his ears it sounded like gibberish. He heard more footsteps; when he looked up, Alicia was running towards him. Maybe it was the lighting in that part of the forest, or his relief at seeing a familiar face coupled with the fact that he’d almost been shot. But in that moment, all he could think about was how pretty she looked. “_Shit_, dude, what the _hell_?!”

Cooper tried to reply. What came out was a mumbled mush of words and maybe a bit more blood. “Oh_, shit_, uhm…here, sit down…” She was at his side, helping him back onto the forest floor. “You shouldn’t walk. I’m gonna call someone, they’ll bring an ATV or the truck or…_something_.” Despite her words, she didn’t pull out her phone. She just crouched beside him, her eyes starting to fill up with tears. “You _idiot_. You _dumbass_, what were you _thinking?!_”

“…wasn’t.” He hoped she understood that. “Sorry.”

“You’re the worst, you know that?” She started checking the injuries on his face, staring into his eyes. Her touch didn’t hurt, weirdly enough. “You’re the worst, and you probably have a concussion. Just _don’t move_, okay?” She finally stood up and got out her phone. “And don’t _die_, okay?”

“Won’t. Promise.” Or, he tried to say that. Maybe he just thought it.

Cooper barely heard her making the call. When it was done, she started checking his injuries again. Moving still hurt, and she _had_ told him not to, but Cooper still reached out. Reached out and took her hand. He was getting blood all over her, probably, but he needed the touch. He needed to know someone was there.

“Hey. You’re okay, I’m here.” She squeezed his hand. “You’re going to be okay.”

He wasn’t.

He wasn’t okay and he wasn’t going to be.

Cooper didn’t realize he had it in him to cry. But he did. Every muffled sob hurt and the salt of his tears stung the cuts on his face, but he cried. Despite the multiple bleeding wounds, Alicia hugged him gently. He thought he heard her crying, too.

They cried together until someone came to get them.

His mom was in the truck. The look on her face just made him cry harder.

If his world hadn’t collapsed yet, it had definitely collapsed now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> True story, I wrote 99% of this chapter yesterday in a fit of inspiration because this is one part of the fic that I've had in my head for literally ages. Also, sorry Cooper.


	9. Chapter 9

He was in the hospital for a while.

Cooper had all of his injuries memorized, top to bottom. Concussion. Outer ear damage. Missing tooth that needed replacing. Broken jaw that required surgery. Fractured ribs. Multiple contusions and abrasions, too many to actively count. He hurt _everywhere_, but not being able to eat solid food until his jaw healed was definitely the worst part. That and needing help with things like _going to the bathroom_ and _cleaning himself._ They made the helpless feeling linger longer than necessary.

Most of his family came to visit at least once. Mom and Dad stayed as much as possible, but never at the same time. Tia Ofelia had given him a rapid-fire scolding in Spanish that had nearly gotten her kicked out of the hospital for “disturbing other patients”, but behaved herself afterwards. Raleigh kept apologizing for not going after him, as if somehow this was his fault. Cristina and Evelyn stayed when they could. Robbie didn’t come, but he passed along a letter with Cristina wishing Cooper the best.

Most of his other family members only came once. Cooper got the feeling from a lot of them that they were _not_ happy with the situation, for their own reasons.

Alicia came by a lot, though. That made up for their disapproval.

“You look _less_ like you got stepped on by a Titan,” she said on his last day at the hospital.

Cooper smiled. It still kind of hurt, but not as badly. “That’s an improvement.” His replacement tooth still felt weird in his mouth. Really, his whole face felt weird. He couldn’t describe it. As far as he knew, everything was where it should be and healing properly, but it felt _off_. Like his face wasn’t really his. “Mom’s coming to get me soon.”

“I figured. I was just in town and figured I’d stop by.” Alicia sat down on the edge of his bed. “You sure you’re good to go?”

“Hospital said I was cleared for release. And I don’t think we can afford to keep me here anymore anyway.” Cooper winced slightly as he sat up in bed. “I’ll be fine. Just have to take it easy.”

“And you’re _actually_ going to take it easy?”

“Trust me, I plan on going home and not leaving my bed for at least a week.” He hadn’t slept well in the hospital. It wasn’t the pain; he’d struggled even when he was doped up on pain medication. It was the hospital in general. It smelled like dying people in there. “How’s everyone back home?”

“It’s been quiet. Everyone’s still on edge, though. Dad is trying to get another gun, but they’re being weird about weapons sales. Mom said if he tries anything illegal, she’s going to kick his ass.”

Cooper laughed, despite the twinge of pain it sent through him. “I she will.”

Someone knocked on the door; when Cooper looked past, he saw his mother there with a nurse. “You ready to go?” the nurse asked.

“_Please_.” She wheeled a chair into the room. “Do I have to…?”

“Just until you’re out of the hospital. Liability issue.”

_Fine, I guess._ It would be the last time he had to use one of those damn things. “Hi, Mrs. Cooper,” Alicia said politely.

“Hi, Alicia.” Mom looked exhausted. It mostly showed in her eyes. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting…”

“It’s okay. I was just headed out anyways.” Alicia very gently patted Cooper on the shoulder. The touch made him remember her gentleness in the woods. He hoped wasn’t blushing; the ache in his chest at the memory was _not_ something he was ready to think about at the moment. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Sounds good. See you later.”

Mom stayed silent the entire walk out of the hospital and to the car. Mom was usually pretty quiet, but something about it felt off this time—too tense. “Are you okay?” Cooper asked.

Mom looked at him with wide, confused eyes. Cooper couldn’t figure out why she was looking at him like that. It was a legitimate question. If her ragged expression was anything to go by, she’d been through hell lately, too. Whatever caused her confusion, she shook it off. “I filed a police report while you were in recovery,” she said instead of answering his question. “Do you feel up to speaking to them?”

“…I guess so.” Physically he could talk, and his mental state felt like it was improving with every second he was away from the hospital. He just wasn’t sure what the cops could do. They were paid for by the IMC, just like everything else. Recent events had proved that the police weren’t necessarily on the public’s side. Cooper suddenly remembered Robbie’s post-prison bruises. He wasn’t so naïve as to think that they wouldn’t do the same to him. Even if he’d never had trouble with the law before. Even if he hadn’t been involved openly in anti-IMC activities the way Robbie had.

They had threatened Evelyn. They’d threatened his _mother_. Neither of them had done anything, either. As far as Cooper was concerned, no one was safe.

Then again, maybe he was being paranoid. Maybe Mom was letting desperation override her common sense and really thought this would work. _Guess I’ll find out_.

“Hopefully they won’t keep you too long,” Mom continued. “You told us some of what happened while we were driving you to the hospital…do you remember?”

“Kind of.” He’d been pretty out of it. He remembered talking to someone, but not who, or what the exact nature of what he’d said. He was pretty sure he remembered apologizing a lot, but he was apologetic for a lot of things. “How’d they take it?”

“They wanted to talk to us again once you were feeling better. I think they wanted to hear it all from you.”

That comment only made him more nervous. “You’ll stay with me, right?” he asked. “I know I’m an adult, I just want another set of eyes on the situation.”

“Of course. I didn’t plan on leaving.” Good. At least she wasn’t so optimistic as to think that leaving him alone was a good idea.

Cooper’s feeling of unease grew stronger when they arrived at the police department. People were staring at him. It was probably because he still looked like he’d been run over by a whole convoy of trucks, but he couldn’t escape the feeling that it was because they _knew_. That they knew who he was and who he may have gone to blows with.

Going into someone’s private office with Mom didn’t offer much relief, but at least it took all those eyes off of him.

“Mrs. Cooper…Jack, right?” Cooper faintly recognized the man in front of him, Officer Logan. He was the officer who came out whenever there was trouble in his neck of the woods. His wife worked with mom at the Research Center. The familiarity did not make Cooper feel better. “We’ve been reviewing your mother’s retelling of what happened…” He pushed a tablet with a document open on it. “Do you mind reading this over and telling me if this is accurate?”

Cooper carefully took the tablet and read over the account. “Yeah, this is all right,” he said. He was happy that his mom was better able to remember what the guys looked like than Cooper had—he only clearly remembered the one who had shoved a gun in his face. Everyone else was a blur, probably because of the blows to the head he’d taken. “I don’t know what else I can help you with. It’s all here.”

“Are you sure?”

_There it is. There it is._

“Yeah, it’s all here.”

Officer Logan’s fingers drummed against the table. “You had some very inflammatory accusations in your account. Are you…”

“You mean the part where I said they’re IMC?”

“That is the part I mean.” Officer Logan leaned forward. “Son, I need you to be completely sure that you want to do this. You need to know, if you go ahead with this…you’re not going to like what you get.”

_Yeah. There it is._

Cooper immediately felt resigned. Mom, on the other hand… “Logan, are you kidding me?” she said. She had a dangerous tone that Cooper _rarely_ heard. It made him feel like he’d been full-named for doing who only knew what. “You told me you could help.”

“I _am_ helping. Johanna…”

“Don’t you _dare_ ‘Johanna’ me. You _promised…_”

“…you realize how this is going to go if you pursue this? What this will do to your family? You both need to think…”

Cooper had been thinking. He’d been doing nothing _but_ think every single hour he was awake in that hospital. He’d been thinking about the IMC and what they might do and what they’d already done for weeks, _months_ now. It was almost all he could think about.

Especially the image of them pointing a gun at his mother.

When he zoned back into the conversation, Mom and Officer Logan were still arguing. Cooper sat still, waiting for a lull in the argument. The first pause for breathe he found…

“So, do you clean their toilets for them, too, or are they content with just making you cover up their metaphorical shit?”

The conversation ground to a halt. From the look on Officer Logan’s face, he understood what Cooper meant. “That’s not fair,” he said.

“A lot of things aren’t fair.” Cooper stood up shakily. “The report’s wrong. I wiped out while I was riding my bike.”

Cooper couldn’t help getting a sick sense of satisfaction from the guilty look on Officer Logan’s face. _Good. Stew in it, bastard._ “Jack, I’m not asking you to say that…”

“I wiped out on my bike,” Cooper repeated. His hands shook as he gathered up his jacket. “It was my fault. A stupid mistake. I’m not accusing anyone of anything and you can tell them I said that.”

Mom was silent. Officer Logan was silent. They both just watched as Jack put on his jacket and walked to the door. He stopped, turned around, and added, “Thanks for the help, Officer.”

Then he was out the door, out of the station before he had time to feel anyone’s stares on him, and to the car…only to remember that Mom had the keys and there was no way for him to get in. Hovering awkwardly by the car was not how he expected that confrontation to end.

_Well, that went well._

At least he knew where everything stood.

Mom came out not long after. She looked livid. Cooper didn’t think he’d _ever_ seen her so angry. He almost felt guilty, but what else was he supposed to do in there? Keep pressing the matter? The truth didn’t matter to these people. Office Logan had made that pretty clear. Better to retreat and let them think he wouldn’t be any trouble.

At this point, he didn’t care if he didn’t get justice. He just wanted his family to be safe.

They got in the car without a word. Mom didn’t start the car right away; she sat there, gripping the steering wheel, breathing slowly. Cooper waited for her to gather herself. “…I’m sorry,” she said. She sounded angry, but resigned as well. Accepting of what had happened, but furious about it. “I didn’t think it would go like that.”

“…yeah.”

They sat in silence for another moment. Mom went to speak, but before she could…

“Mom, why haven’t you come home yet?”

Of all the times to ask that, he _had_ to ask now. Cooper wasn’t even sure what drove him to do it. The question had been nagging at him for months, sure, but it was probably the least important thing going on in his life right now.

But it wasn’t. It was the most important question on his mind and he knew he couldn’t leave it unasked forever.

Mom hesitated, then sighed. Instead of responding, she started the car and drove away.

They didn’t say a word the drive back home. She dropped him off at home and kept going to Tia Ofelia’s.

Cooper thought that was his answer, until she came back an hour later with her stuff.

He overheard her speak to Dad before he saw her. The exchange was brief, so much so that he would’ve missed it if he hadn’t been in the kitchen trying to find something to eat that wouldn’t knock his teeth back out. He heard the door open. He heard Dad inhale sharply, but before he could say anything…

“I don’t want to fight right now.”

Cooper froze at the sound of his mother’s voice. From the long pause that followed, he was sure his dad was doing the same thing. The moment stretched on, so long that Cooper started to worry. But then he heard Dad’s soft, “Me either.”

And that was that.

Mom came into the kitchen; the second she saw him, she smiled. “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to cook right now.”

“…it calms me down,” Cooper managed to say. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hey, sweetie.” She gently steered him out of the kitchen. “You lie down. I’ll get you something.”

He felt guilty at first, like he’d pressured her back into a situation that she hadn’t wanted to be in. That wasn’t what he’d _wanted_ to do. He’d just wanted _answers._

_She wouldn’t come back if she didn’t want to, Jack. Don’t be stupid._

Still, he was on-edge for the rest of the day, bracing himself for a behind-closed-doors fight or tense atmosphere that he’d be at fault for. They never came, at least not that he noticed. Mom and Dad were a bit odd around each other—not at _ease,_ for sure—but the atmosphere was more hesitant than tense, and if they did fight, they hid it better than usual. Dinner went off without a hitch. Dad looked like he was setting up a bed on the couch, but other than that…nothing.

Everything seemed fine.

Still, the lingering concern and his nausea over what had happened at the police station made it hard for him to sleep. Cooper stayed up long enough, lost in thought and struggling with the memories, that his painkillers wore off. He had to drag himself out of bed and to the bathroom to take some more. It was while he was there that he heard hushed voices.

_Oh, no_.

He knew he shouldn’t listen. He should just go back to bed and rest so he could face whatever the fallout of the argument would be the next morning. But like the urge to push on a bruise, even if you knew it would hurt, Cooper couldn’t help edging towards the living room, straining his ears to listen. If they were fighting, it was his fault, and he wanted to know…

“…son of a bitch said he’d help and he just hung us out to dry,” he heard Mom said. “I never should’ve trusted him.”

Okay. So, not fighting.

“Are you going to try talking to Linda?” Dad asked.

“No. I don’t think there’s anything she can do, even if she wanted to. She doesn’t like me that much as it is.” Mom sighed softly. “It was stupid. I don’t know what I expected.”

“No, Jo, it wasn’t stupid. You were trying to help.”

Mom laughed bitterly. “For all the good it’s done.” She paused; when she spoke again, her voice was suddenly, unexpectedly thick with tears, “I can’t do anything.”

Dad was speaking gently, a tone that Cooper only heard when things weren’t going well. “Jo, don’t do this. It’s not your fault.”

“He’s my _son_, Sam.” Now Mom was crying. “That’s my baby and I couldn’t protect him. I couldn’t _do anything_.”

Cooper didn’t think he’d ever heard his mother cry like that before. And he’d definitely never heard her admit to feeling helpless.

Before he could stop himself, he was walking into the living room. “Mom?”

She was sitting on the couch, leaning into a hug from Dad. It was the closest he’d seen them in months, maybe longer. She was trembling, tears streaming down her face. Dad looked on the verge of tears as well, which only made the terrified feeling in Cooper’s chest stronger. “Jack, I’m sorry,” Mom said, desperately trying to wipe the tears away. “Did I wake you?”

He couldn’t speak; he doubted there was anything he could say that would fix things, anyway. So, instead, he did the only thing he could think to do: sat down next to her on the couch and pulled her into a hug. “I’m okay,” he said, suddenly on the verge of tears himself. “I’m okay, Mom.”

She hugged him back. Dad hugged them both. Cooper kept repeating himself, as if that would somehow make it real.

_I’m okay. _

As if it could somehow heal his fractured ribs, wipe the bruises from his body, heal the scar forming on his jaw from the surgery.

_I’m okay._

As if that could somehow make everything the way it was, peaceful and calm, back in the days when everything made sense.

_I’m okay._

As if those two words could keep them safe.

_I’m okay, Mom. I promise._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhh this fic is so close to being done and when it's done i can move on to other long plot-heavy fics that are post-game and even angstier y'all I'm...


	10. Chapter 10

Things weren’t fine after that, but they were quiet.

Cooper recovered, slowly. No one talked about what had happened, which was fine by him. Mom moved back in. Things were calm with her and Dad—in fact, it seemed like they were actually making an effort to talk to each other. Cooper knew it wasn’t perfect, but he appreciated it. He returned the favor by keeping his head down. He barely left the farm, and whenever he did, it was near-exclusively to visit Alicia. He didn’t want any more trouble. He couldn’t bring that on his family.

Cooper tried to shut his ears and shut his heart to what he knew was happening outside the confines of his home. He tried to convince himself that this place was safe.

He knew better, but he tried.

That effort did not include leaving the house unarmed. He was the one holding the rifle when he and Dad left the house that day to go check on some of the fencing. Dad had some ancient music playing over the radio and started a prolonged lecture about the portrayal of the working class in American rock music. Cooper had heard most of it before, but he listened anyway. It was the most animated Dad had been in a while, so he wasn’t about to stomp on his Dad’s enthusiasm. It was good to see him happy.

It didn’t last long; the happiness fell right off Dad’s face when he saw the fence. “Ah, _hell_…”

“That’s...a bigass hole,” Cooper noted. A feeling of dread sank into his stomach. He couldn’t tell if the hole had been made by claws or more man-made methods. Could’ve been either one from where they were parked. “Dad, are you sure we should be out here…?”

“We can’t just leave that open. _Everything_ will get in.” Dad unbuckled his seatbelt. “Hey, call one of your uncles and see if they can bring up extra fencing, yeah?”

“I don’t know about this.” Cooper swallowed nervously. His gut was screaming at him to get out of there. He couldn’t say why, but he had a _bad_ feeling. “Should we wait until they get here?”

“I don’t want to wait that long. Just make the call, I’ll get started.”

“Dad…”

But Dad was already out of the car, single-minded in his determination to fix the hole. Cooper would’ve understood normally--a hole that big could let in all kinds of things, and none of them good. But today, he wanted to run, as far and as fast as possible. His hands shook as he pulled out his phone and dialed up the first uncle in his contacts.

_It’s fine. You’re fine. You’re just paranoid after what happened. Breathe, Jack._

He was about to hit _call_ when he heard Dad cry out in pain.

When he looked out the window, there were three men standing over his father.

Cooper immediately slouched down further, both hands gripping the gun, listening as best he could. From the sound of it, they hadn’t seen him yet. Where had they come from? Had they been hiding somewhere? Was this whole thing a trap? He struggled to breathe. _Stay calm, stay calm…_ Cooper forced himself up to look through the driver’s side window. The three men were armed. Dad was on the ground, curled up on his side. One looked at the car, but looked away and made no move to come closer. The windows were tinted, making it hard to see inside from a distance, so he must not have noticed Cooper was there yet.

The passenger’s side door was on the other side of the car from the intruders. _If I open it slowly…_

Cooper took the risk, but only opened the door enough to hear what was happening. He winced at the click and slight creak of the door as it opened. It sounded _tremendously_ loud to him, but the conversation outside continued as if nothing were happening. “...harboring known political instigators, refusal to cooperate with IMC officials, and that little stunt your kid pulled...you people really don’t know when to just do as you’re told, do you?”

Cooper’s stomach twisted itself into knots at that comment. They were IMC. Not only that, but they were _admitting_ they were IMC. They wouldn’t be so brazen unless…

“You got anything to say for yourself?”

Dad stayed quiet. When Cooper peeked out the driver’s side window again, he could see the shape of his father pushing himself up onto his hands and knees, glaring up at the men.

“No?” One of the men drew a gun. “How about now?”

_...unless they don’t plan on leaving survivors._

Cooper didn’t think. He pushed the door open wide enough that he could squeeze out and drop to the ground. “Shame about the amount of prowlers in the area,” the man continued as Cooper circled around the car, trying to stay low. “If you’d just accept help from the IMC, maybe we could do something about it. Maybe it’ll take a family death...or two…” The man pulled back the hammer on the pistol. “Bad luck that we have to start with you.”

Like he had when he saw Mom having a gun pointed at her, Cooper acted without thinking.

Unlike when Mom had a gun pointed at her, he had a long-range gun.

Cooper stood up. He took in the sight of the three men, one pointing a gun at dad, one holding a gun without aiming, and one watching impassively. He aimed at the person aiming at his father and pulled the trigger.

That first man’s head snapped back, a spray of blood bursting from the wound. The second armed man turned to shoot, but Cooper beat him to it. By the time that man dropped, the last man had pulled free his gun and was starting to aim.

Cooper beat him to it, too.

It wasn’t until the ringing in his ears stopped that he realized what he had done.

“…shit…oh _shit…_” Cooper put the gun down in the bed of the truck and ran to his father. “Dad? _Dad?!_”

“I’m okay…” Dad got to his feet unsteadily; Cooper helped him to stay up. “I’m okay.”

There were bodies. There were three bodies. Oh, shit, he’d killed them. “Dad, what do we do?” Cooper asked. His voice was shaking. _He _was shaking. “I don’t…”

“Give me a second, just…” Dad down at the bodies, then closed his eyes and breathed slowly. “Uhm…do you have Cristina’s boyfriend’s number?”

“Robbie? I…yeah, I think so, why?” 

“You need to call him, right now. Okay?”

“Okay. Okay.”

Cooper wasn’t sure how to explain what had happened, so he just gave Robbie their coordinates and permission to borrow Cooper’s bike. After that, he sat in the car with Dad and waited.

They didn’t say anything for a while.

“…are we going to tell everyone?” Cooper asked finally.

“We should. This affects all of us now.” Dad’s nose had stopped bleeding, but he hadn’t managed to wipe all the blood away. One of his eyes was starting to swell up, too. “Are you okay?”

“I’m…” Cooper’s hands were still shaking. “I don’t know.”

He’d just killed three men.

He thought he would feel worse about it, but as time went on, he felt…not better. But at peace, in a strange way. They had been about to kill his father. He did what he had to do. Maybe later, he’d feel worse again, feel the terror of knowing that he had pulled the trigger without hesitation, that he’d taken three human lives, but right now, that wasn’t what terrified him. What terrified him were the potential consequences.

That the IMC would come after them.

That the men outside their car would get back up and come at them again with guns.

That life was about to get a whole lot worse.

The sound of an approaching bike made his anxiety spike, then settle when he realized it was Robbie. Robbie’s first reaction to the bodies was to stare, frozen, helmet still in his hands, eyes wide.

“…they were going to kill Dad,” Cooper said. He didn’t know what else to say.

Robbie snapped out of it and nodded. “…okay. Okay. Uhm…” He rubbed his eyes. “Okay. Where are we leaving them?”

In the end, they took the bodies to the other side of the fence, deep into the woods, to a river that would hopefully carry the bodies into prowler territory. They watched the bodies float away, making sure they didn’t get stuck on any rocks too close to their house. Dad wrapped an arm around Cooper’s shoulders. Cooper leaned into the hug and let himself enjoy the awareness that his father was still alive. That this time, he’d been able to do something. Even if that something was terrible, irreversible, and would have severe consequences one way or another.

His father was alive. He’d finally been able to protect _someone._

When the bodies were out of sight, they packed up and went home.

It started raining as they drove back.

At least that would wash away the blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> True story, I've had this scene in mind since I started writing the fic. Feels good to finally have it out there. Also feels good to have exactly two chapters left, like...am I about to finish this thing? For real? Me, finishing something multi-chapter? It's actually happening, y'all. Wow.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, for anyone who isn't following my other Titanfall fic, after mass protests starting breaking out in the U.S. earlier this year, I thought a fic of this nature would feel a bit...tacky? I mean, obviously I'd never capitalize off serious real-world events for my fic, so it'd just be coincidence, but it still felt awkward, so I put this one on the back burner. Obviously, the major issues haven't gone away, but with the news having...okay, the news isn't any calmer either, but it feels like one of those situations where it's probably not going to feel a bit awkward for a while, so I decided to just work on it and pray that the political situation in my country doesn't get any more inflamed than it already has this year. I've only got one chapter left after this one anyway. Also, man, what a year, huh.

It was quiet for a few seconds after Dad finished telling the story.

Then, the room absolutely _exploded_.

Cooper couldn’t keep track of what was being said—just that there was a mixture of English, Spanish, that his mom was hugging his dad and trying to ask Cooper if he was okay, that Tia Ofelia was at his side trying to ask the same while also yelling at one of her brothers to shut up, that someone was yelling at Robbie, that Cristina was stepping in to defend him…

“Jack? Jack, mijo, are you…?”

Cooper got up and walked out of the room.

No one followed him. He could only assume Mom, Dad, and Ofelia had been sucked into the arguments within seconds of him leaving. That was usually how it went in situations like this. Cooper could’ve stayed and tried to make sense of it, but it was all too much, too loud, too many threads getting entangled in each other, too many points he’d have to defend himself against.

Too many points he _shouldn’t_ have to defend himself against, because what the _hell_ else could he have done? They were going to _kill his father._ What, was he supposed to just stand by and let it happen? He knew not everyone on Mom’s side of the family liked Dad, but he figured not even they would suggest letting him die.

He _hoped_ they wouldn’t consider saying that. If they did that to his face, Cooper was going to have a lot more problems than the fact that he’d killed three people today.

He’d killed three people today.

It still hadn’t sunk in yet.

He was still holding the rifle he’d used to do it, too. It was probably perverse, but with everything going on, putting it down felt unsafe.

_I can’t even leave my house without being worried about being killed._

Cooper laughed quietly to himself. _Shit_. Shit, this entire situation was messed up.

“Jack?”

He almost raised the rifle, but froze when he saw who it was. “Al?” Alicia? What was she doing here? And when had he ended up back at his own house? Had he really been walking that long? “What are you…?”

“I stopped by to see how you were doing…” She got off her bike and gave him a once-over. “What happened? Are you good?”

Was he?

No. Not really.

“…it’s a long story. You want to come in?” he asked.

He made them both coffee. He sat down. He told her everything, quietly and carefully. There was silence once he was done. And then…

“_Shit_,” Alicia breathed. “That’s…are you okay?” She held out her hand. “That’s a really intense situation to be in.”

“I’m…” Cooper took a deep breath, took her hand, and focused on the pressure of her grip. “…I don’t know. Is it sick that I’d do it again?”

“Absolutely not. I’d do the same thing if I were in your situation. You were protecting your family. It’s not like you’re some kind of…crazy serial killer or something.”

That encouragement made him feel better, and hearing it from her meant a lot. Cooper took another deep breath. “Thanks,” he said. “I just…don’t know what to do now. They’re talking about it back at Tia’s, but…”

“_Everyone’s _talking about it and there’s no way they’re going to reach a consensus?”

“Basically. Everyone was screaming when I left. It was too loud. I couldn’t think.” He finally, if hesitantly, pulled away from her to rub his eyes. “There’s too many Coopers and Medinas on this damn planet.”

Alicia winced sympathetically. “I get that.” She hesitated. “Do you want to talk? Brainstorm? Maybe we can figure something out…”

“I don’t know if I have options. I can’t do _nothing_, but…I don’t know. Did that organized resistance go anywhere, do you know?”

Alicia hesitated again. It took Cooper a second to read her expression—or, more accurately, to read the silence, weigh what it might mean. “…what are they planning?” he asked, trying to keep the interest out of his voice. “Do you know?”

“…no, and I’m gonna be completely honest…I don’t think they know, either. It’s still early days. They know they want to do something, but they haven’t gotten much further than that. Though…to be fair, someone being threatened the way your dad was could be the kick in the pants they need to actually get it together.”

Cooper’s heartbeat kicked up. He remembered what Dad had said about not getting involved with people like that. Normally, he wouldn’t dream of it.

But since when were these normal circumstances?

“I want in,” Cooper said.

It was arguably a stupid call, and he thought for sure that he would second-guess it. But it didn’t happen. Not as Alicia explained the mechanics of getting to one of these meetings, not when his parents came home tense but at least still speaking to each other, not as the night quickly turned sleepless as they all braced themselves for retaliation. Retaliation didn’t come that night, or the next day, and neither did any doubts. The IMC had shown who they really were, multiple times. It was time to do something. He _wanted_ to do something.

Cooper thought about telling his parents before he went to the meeting, but decided to wait. Once he knew what the plan was, then he’d talk to them. They didn’t ask many questions that night; all he had to say was that he was going to Alicia’s. They might have been scared for him, but they would never stop him from visiting one of his only friends.

Exploiting that fact did make him feel a little guilty, to be sure, but not guilty enough to turn back. And anyway, it wasn’t a _complete_ lie. Alicia’s house was the first stop on their trip. The second stop was the barn of a livestock farmer he’d never met before. To Cooper’s surprise, Alicia wasn’t the only familiar face at the location.

“Robbie? Cris?”

Both Robbie and Cristina immediately looked defensive, but calmed down when they saw it was just him. “Should’ve expected to see you here,” Robbie said. “All things considered. Are you holding up okay?”

“I mean…kinda?” Cooper shrugged. “I think it still hasn’t sunk in yet.” One day it would, and he had a feeling that it would be soon. But right now, he was looking at a potential solution to this mess, and his brain decided that was much, much better to think about than the looming consequences for killing three people. “Let me guess, Tia doesn’t know you’re here?”

“Do _your_ parents know?” Cristina shot back.

“Yeah, no, I’m not looking to get grounded.”

“Or the _I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed_ face,” Alicia added. “Not that mine woul be too shocked if they found out. C’mon. They’re going to get started soon.”

Cooper’s stomach started twisting itself into knots almost immediately. Some of it was the slowly dawning realization as to what, exactly, he’d agreed to participate in. The rest was standard _oh, no, not socializing, please, no_ nerves. He’d already been feeling like a live wire lately; he just hadn’t considered how much of a drain interacting with people might be until that moment.

_Stay close to Alicia, say as little as possible, and pray the light bulbs aren’t too loud. _That was really all he could do.

It was an immediate relief to see that the space, while it had more than a few people inside, was big enough as to not feel crowded, and that the light bulbs were_ not_ making any kind of irritating humming noises. Cooper still caught himself pulling his arms close to his chest, his body instinctively trying to make itself small. It wasn’t just the strangers around him; the whole mood of the place felt off. These people looked tired, bordering on hopeless.

_How many of us have they pushed to the breaking point? _It looked like a lot of people, but he was a bad judge of numbers.

Some people shot him suspicious glances as he walked past, though they seemed to relax when they saw he was with Robbie. “They know you here?” Cooper asked quietly.

“A little. There’s overlap with other groups. I recognize some people from the union meetings...lot more than I expected, actually.”

“Guess it’s sinking in that they’re not going to listen to protests. Wish they would, though.”

Robbie sighed quietly. “Yeah. Me, too.”

Someone up front started speaking; it took Cooper’s brain a second to catch up. “...don’t know if you heard, but there have been rumors of hostile action out on the northern homesteads…”

_Oh, shit, that’s me._

“...including at least one assault last month.”

_Oh, shit, that’s **me.**_

“I don’t know how true it is, but if it is…this could be worse than we thought.”

_Should I say something? _He knew he should, because they deserved to know exactly what they were up against. Cooper glanced Alicia’s way for moral support before raising his hand. “Uhm, about that,” he called.

And now _everyone_ was staring at him. The words he was going to say lodged themselves in his throat; Cooper swallowed hard and forced them out. “Yeah, the assault is...that was me.” For once, he was grateful for the bruising still on his face. It definitely made his story more credible. “They sent some goons out to threaten my mom. I tried to chase them off, but…” He shrugged and gestured towards his injuries. “It didn’t go so well.”

The questions came fast—so fast and pretty much all at once, so Cooper couldn’t hear what they were. Sensory overload kicked n pretty much immediately. Cooper took a step back and glanced anxiously at the others. Fortunately, Robbie stepped forward. “Guys, _guys_, one at a time,” he said. “Give him some space. He’s been through a lot.”

Fortunately, they listened and backed off. The other guy, the one at the front of the room, stepped closer. “Did you go to anyone?”

“Yeah, but it was a waste. When my mom and I went to the police, they just tried to talk me out of it.” Cooper couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice. “I didn’t push it, for my family. I thought maybe they’d leave well enough alone, but they showed up again a few days ago, and…”

Should he admit to triple homicide? Even in a room full of people who would be on his side?

“…they were gonna kill my dad…”

That was all he had to say. People filled in the rest of the blanks from there. The reactions varied from dismay to disgust to a weary resignation. “So, now they’re trying to kill people,” someone nearby said. “_Great._”

“We all knew it was only a matter of time before they started on us here,” Robbie said. “The real question is what we’re going to do about it.”

“And what exactly are _you_ suggesting we do about it?” someone in the crowds said.

“You know _exactly_ what I’m suggesting…”

That comment earned him a rush of mumbled responses, some agitated, some supportive. Cooper took the opportunity to step back out of the spotlight and back with Alicia and Cristina, where he could at least _try_ to get a read on the room. It was a lot of information to take in, and he couldn’t grasp the amount of people _for_ versus the amount of people _against. _It didn’t help that Robbie hadn’t explicitly said what he was suggesting, though Cooper could make a guess.

“So, what, we just march up there?” a new voice demanded. The person—a man with a pretty impressive scar running up one side of his face—pushed to the front of the crowd. “_Take a stand?_ You really think that’s going to change anything?”

“Nothing else has _worked_.”

“And this won’t either. You might be too young to remember the last war, son, but…”

Robbie’s voice went steel-cold as he responded. “I’m not your _son_, and I’m not some wide-eyed kid. I know the plan has risks.”

“Do you? Do you _really?_”

“They’re _already killing us_. How much worse can it get?”

The scarred man barked in laughter. “See? This is what I’m talking about. It can get _so_ much worse. I _know._ I _saw it_.”

Titan Wars veteran. Had to be. It’d explain the scar, and why he seemed so desperately opposed to fighting. Cooper cleared his throat. “None of us want this,” he said, hoping that he’d actually be _heard_ but not quite at a point where he could raise his voice to Robbie-levels. “Trust me, if there was anything else I thought I could do, I wouldn’t be here. And I’m guessing that most of us don’t really want this.”

He was surprised at how many people had actually heard him, but not surprised that most of them were nodding their heads in agreement. No one had the fierce, rage-fueled bloodlust of anarchists looking for an excuse to pull the trigger. They were just…people.

Just a bunch of tired, exhausted people pushed to their limit.

The howler gnawing off its own leg.

“We don’t want to but we _have_ to. And we’re going to do it _smart_, because…because if we don’t, this _will_ get worse, and it will go on longer than it has to. I wish I knew what the smart option was, but I don’t…” He shrugged. “So, that’s why I’m here. I’m open to suggestions.”

The room was silent, everyone around him mulling over things. Alicia was the first to speak: “Just to clarify, I don’t disagree with anything Jack is saying. But…before we do anything, we should probably take a count of what we have to work with.” Her voice quickened as she spoke, the gears visibly turning in her mind. “We’ll need to know…who’s got combat training, who’s got guns, vehicles, whatever else we’ll need…it’d probably be smarter to plan around what we actually have instead of trying to plan based on what we _wish_ we had.” That earned some murmurs of agreement. “I can start taking all this down…”

“Are you sure having that kind of thing written down is a good plan?” someone asked.

“What do I look like, some kind of idiot? I know how to hide these things. My family hasn’t been handing over the full amount of our crops’ worth for years. This will be easy to hide in comparison.”

Cooper barely bit back a startled laugh at the confession. “Wait, you guys _what?!_”

“They were taking too much and I’m petty. Mom and Dad pretend they don’t know, so don’t tell them.” She grinned at him, so brightly he forgot how to breathe for a second, and looked around the room. “Anyone have something to write with?”

Someone found her paper and a pen, and she started taking notes. The atmosphere in the room shifted as she did—excitement, maybe, dread, definitely, and disbelief that they were _actually doing this_. Cooper tried to get a feel for it, but kept getting distracted by how quickly Alicia was kicking everyone into shape. She'd always been organized, but he didn't think he'd ever seen her in her element like this. It was…

"Damn, we could've used someone like her weeks ago," Robbie noted.

Cooper nodded absentmindedly, still watching Alicia move around the room. "Yeah. Yeah, she's...pretty great."

"..._pretty great, _huh?"

Cooper might not have been the best at picking up tones, but _that_ was one he'd heard before. He hunched his shoulders, hoping to hide the blush starting in his ears. "_Yeah_. She is."

When he glanced Robbie's way, the other man was smiling. "Does _she_ know you think that?"

"Of course she does."

"Yeah, but...I mean…"

"I'm going to go see if she needs any help." _You're not my cousin-in-law yet. You don't get to bug me about my dating life._ Cooper walked away from the conversation as quickly as possible without looking too suspicious. Fortunately, Robbie didn't follow him.

Alicia didn't need help and he knew it. She _did_, however, need his information. "So, this is it, huh?" she said. "We're really doing this?"

"I guess so." He shoved his hands in his pockets. They had started shaking a bit. "Shit."

"Yeah, me, too." She finished whatever it was she was writing and held out a hand. "You going to be okay?"

Reaching out like that had been a key part of their relationship for years. He wouldn’t think twice about it, but for some reason, tonight it felt…_different._

Was it different?

_Time and a place. Maybe worry about this when you're not planning a revolution_.

Still, he took her hand. "I think so. You?"

"Well, this is gonna suck, but at least I know there's one other smart person involved." She squeezed his hand gently. "We've got this, right?"

He didn't know. But maybe pretending they did would help.

"Yeah." Cooper squeezed back. "Of course."

He had her back, for sure. Always.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is taken from "Dust Bowl Dance" by Mumford & Sons, which heavily inspired my headcanons about Cooper's backstory. I'm on tumblr at screechthemighty or respawncinematicuniverse depending on what kinds of content you're here for.


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